Arizona Ethnic Studies and the Caballo's Mouth - links and further readings/viewing material
Though Democracy Now! included a headline about the firing of the director of Arizona's Ethnic Studies Program director, Sean Arce, yesterday, I didn't really poke any further into it until this morning.
Just peering around from the top of the
iceberg, I thought I'd put together a short collection of things I
found interesting or marked for further attention while I had my
morning coffee.
The city of Tucson, Arizona, according
to the 2010
U.S. census has a population of approximately (because these
things can only ever be approximate, no matter how hard they try)
41.6% who are of "Hispanic or Latino origin".
Within the Tucson
Unified School District, a Mexican
American Studies program had, until earlier this year, existed.
Though Sean Arce, the program's director, who received the 2012
Myles Horton Award for Teaching People’s History, heralded the
success of the program, the Arizona superintendent of schools, John
Huppenthal voiced concerns that the program was teaching its
students to resent white people and took steps to shut the program
down. Though Huppenthal paid for the Cambium Learning
Group to perform an audit, the report found that "During the
curriculum audit period, no observable evidence was present to
suggest that any classroom within the Tucson Unified School District
is in direct violation of the law." In
an Democracy Now! interview
in which Nermeen Shaikh and Amy Goodman speak to both Huppenthal and
Richard Martinez, the attorney representing those trying to save the
Mexican American Studies program, Huppenthal articulates his position
mostly by avoiding questions and using vague language.
The
strange irony of his position, however, is that while John
Huppenthal's concern that students not be exposed to a program that
promotes racism towards whites, he allegedly campaigned on the
promise that he would "Stop La Raza". La
Raza appears to be one of those phrases that is difficult to
fully understand without intimate knowledge of its use in the region
in which it's being used. Being nowhere near Arizona, the best
I can do is to trust Richard Martinez's definition when he says it
means "the people". Huppenthal's use of this phrase
was apparently made in video advertisements but when I tried to
locate one, I found that all of them had been removed from the web
(if I'm wrong, do let me know!). In the Democracy Now!
interview above, however, Amy Goodman (who I sincerely hope to never
be on the wrong side of) questions him about this comment and he
doesn't deny that he said it.
Controversial HB
2281, signed on May 11, 2010, amends Title
15 in a way that made Tucson's ethnic studies program illegal.
The amendments made to section 15-112 outlines that a school district
cannot do four things:
"1. Promote the overthrow of the
United States Government.
2. Promote resentment towards a race or
class of people.
3. Are designed primarily for pupils of
a particular ethnic group
4. Advocate ethnic solidarity instead
of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
In the wake of SB1070,
which outlines some of the strictest anti-illegal alien measures ever
put into place (explained loosely here),
HB 2281 angered an awful lot of people. Close reading of HB
2281, particularly to section 15-843, regarding student discipline,
puts angry students in a vulnerable position if they choose to
exhibit their frustrations.
Then Superintendent of Public
Instruction and current Attorney General of Arizona, Tom Horne, has
also been at the centre of the dispute. A supporter of the bill, he
can be seen in a debate with Richard Martinez in five parts:
Something that really captured
my attention this morning, though, is
the documentary, Precious
Knowledge, an Ari Palos film documenting the now dismantled
program and the people fighting for it. Currently unavailable online,
it is available from the website above and occasionally has
screenings at various institutions.
One of the issues
that has been popping up is in regards to whether HB 2281 actually
led to book banning. In the Democracy Now! interview, John Huppenthal
is adamant that they were not banned, but Richard Martinez argues
this. The books in question are listed here:
Critical
Race Theory by Richard
Delgado
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez
Message to AZTLAN by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales
Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuna (I'm particularly interested in finding out more about him.)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years by Bill Bigelow
Somewhere
in the conflict, there was an accusation that Shakespare's The
Tempest was also banned, but the
Tucson
school district's official press release makes no mention of it.
In the release, the TUSD states that the books "have
been moved to the district storage facility because the classes have
been suspended," and that
"NONE of the above books have been banned by TUSD.
Each book has been boxed and stored as part of the process of
suspending the classes. The books listed above were cited in
the ruling that found the classes out of compliance with state law."
The press release continues on to
say that "Every one of the books listed
above is still available to students through
several school libraries. Many of the schools where
Mexican American Studies classes were taught have the books available
in their libraries. Also, all students throughout the district
may reserve the books through the library system."
Confusing,
depressing, and charged, the situation doesn't appear to be showing
any signs of cooling down, especially after yesterday's news about
Sean Arce. The website, http://saveethnicstudies.org/,
has been set up to serve as a resource for those interested and I'll
be keeping my eye on it for updates.
A. Crow
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